“I may or may not have until sundown to produce those diamonds.”
“Or else…I see.” I leaned in close. “Do you think the monkey set you up?”
“Ella!”
“Do you want me to investigate or not?” I challenged.
“You will?”
I was stuck. “How could I possibly pass this up, Jasper? Take me to your crew.”
He turned around, his peg leg striking against the clean floor, and motioned to the door. “They’re not my crew, anymore, Ella. I’m retired.”
My father-in-law was retired like I was still single.
Majestic ships floated before me in all their seaworthy glory. The scent of brine and fish enveloped my very being. The bright sun warmed my face as it glistened off the Atlantic Ocean. Jasper was silent as we walked to the docks, a wonderful turn of events. There was only one problem; there wasn’t a monkey in sight.
“Ella, are you sure you know how to find a monkey?”
“How hard can it be? I’ve found you a time or two in your less cooperative moods.”
“I’m allowed to have a personal life, Ella.”
I stared at him. “Not when you commit crimes and the government would prefer you remain a guest of theirs.”
“Theirs? You’re still not really one of them, are you, dear? Admit it.” Jasper tapped my shoulder. “You’re one of us at heart and always will be.”
I ignored him because it had been a slip and that conversation would have to wait. I had monkeys on the mind and wanted to finish this up before dinner with my husband. I wouldn’t miss telling him about my day for anything.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
I bit my lip because, somehow, he always did.
“I’ll cook dinner tonight if you don’t tell Joe what I got myself into.”
I liked cooking, loved detective work even more, but adored telling Joe about his father’s antics. I was about to say no when Jasper leaned forward desperately.
“For one week.”
I could get a lot done in a week’s worth of evenings to myself. But making deals with Jasper was something I avoided like a prison sentence.
“Two weeks.”
I huffed. “Fine, old man. I’ll find your monkey and your diamonds for the dinners but you’ll still owe me one for not telling Joe.”
“Deal.” He spit on his hand and held it out.
Ignoring him, I walked up to a group of scruffy men. They stood at the water’s edge, glaring at Jasper. Three wore tattered rags, dirty and smelly. The other three were dressed in clean trousers and old coats. They were all anxious; three glanced around as if Sweet Feet would swing into view, another wrung his hands, the fifth chewed on his bottom lip. The five of them looked at me, suspicious yet hopeful. But the sixth pirate never glanced my way. He didn’t shuffle his feet and his breathing was even and steady. I focused on this blond man with the bad teeth. I would swear on my life he was bored. There was only one explanation I could glean and I hoped I was right. Jasper clomped next to me. “Where did you last see your monkey?” I asked, just to see the reaction I expected.
Jasper and five of the pirates talked over one another, all pointing west. The blond remained quiet.
I turned back to Jasper and indicated the man. “Who’s that?”
Jasper stepped forward, his peg leg pinging against the rotting planks. “Rickson.”
Rickson clutched his coat and stumbled back. “Why’re you singling me out? Who is this woman, Jasper?”
I jumped forward and wrenched his coat open, while simultaneously pulling his sleeves up. I spotted little hairs all over his green shirt and fresh, tiny scratches all over his wrists. I didn’t know if I should be impressed or scoff at him. Brave and smart enough to rejoin his group, the man overreacted at the slightest provocation. Before he regained his senses, I reached inside his coat while tucking my foot behind his ankle. He flailed as he went down, nearly ripping my skirts. Six swords pointed at his throat before his back hit the dock. Calm as I could, I held up a pouch and shook it.
“It’s the seventy-four diamonds!” Jasper breathed.
“Seventy-four?” I nearly dropped the bag.
“I’ll take that.” Jasper sheathed his sword and snatched the diamonds from my grasp.
“Seventy-four diamonds, Jasper? I want to renegotiate.”
“Sorry, darling. You’re a Westin now and Westins always keep their word.”
“You owe me two, old man.”
I noticed a distinct shift in the air. The five men started muttering, glaring at Rickson.
“Don’t.” I touched the nearest man’s wrist. “You can’t kill him. He’ll take you to the monkey.”
A particularly burly pirate slobbered as he spoke. “Sweet Feet’s all right?”
“Yes,” I said. I was sure of it. Otherwise, Rickson would have been long gone by now. “He stole the diamonds under cover of monkey. You’d have eventually found Sweet Feet, assumed he lost the fortune somewhere, and you’d be so busy retracing his steps, you wouldn’t notice Rickson taking off for who knows where.”
That night after dinner, Jasper, Joe and I adjourned to the large but cozy parlor. Joe kissed my cheek before settling into a comfortable chair next to mine. He reached over and held my hand as we sat in front of the fireplace. “How was your day, honey?”
I smiled at him. “I spent it with your father.”
“Why? What happened?” He withdrew his hand and straightened. “What’d you get into?”
I eyed my father-in-law. “Oh, just some monkey business.”
Jasper spit brandy all over the parlor.
I settled back into the luxurious seat and sipped my wine, my evening complete.
THE END
Close Quarters
Somewhere Outside of Port Bass, Maine/Early 1800s
“This coffin isn’t big enough for the both of us.” Not only was I lying on top of my father-in-law in what was usually a final resting place, but our hands were tied together, hampering my efforts to free us.
“I learned a painful lesson long ago never to comment on a woman’s size. Oomph!”
My knee may have jerked just then. Jasper’s warm breath smelled like licorice. Where’d he get food? We’d been tied up since dawn, hours and hours ago. I pulled my wrists and his hands followed. How was he eating? Now I knew where my husband got his penchant for sneaking food at the most inopportune times.
“This is your fault, you know,” Jasper hissed.
I stopped trying to grab the hilt of one of my daggers in surprise. “My fault?”
“You accused him of being the killer. You just had to go and accuse him, right to his face.”
“It’s what you asked me to do, old man!” Unbelievable.
“I asked you to find the killer, not announce him to the world.”
“How was I supposed to know he’d have an army of cohorts? You should have warned me.”
Jasper’s voice was gruff. “I thought you could handle yourself. I thought you were scrappy.”
“I am scrappy, old man.” I took a moment to marshal my thoughts and tried reaching down once again. My fingers brushed against the hilt of one of my knives but I couldn’t grasp it. I was uncomfortable, both physically and socially, and glad we couldn’t see one another, though our noses kept bumping. “I can’t get my knife!” Frustration oozed out of every pore.
“Calm down. What, exactly, is the problem?”
“I can touch the handle but it just moves further down my skirts.” The knife was secured in one of the many loops I’d sewn into my skirts to hide my various weapons for occasions like these. Believe it or not, being thrown into an oversized coffin with a retired pirate was not the strangest thing that had happened to me this year.
“Angle yourself so the point faces my leg and then push.”
“Push the blade into your leg?” I wasted a good glower, forgetting how dark it was in the cramped coffin. “I didn’t know you were so self-sacrificing.”
&nb
sp; “It’s pure survival instinct. If anything happens to you, Joe will murder me with his bare hands and I’d probably deserve it.”
“Probably?”
“I neither agree nor disagree as to my culpability in our current predicament.”
The most infuriating thing about Jasper had to be his high level of education—he was a pirate but often spoke like a lawyer. I mimicked him. “I will neither confirm nor deny the joy I would receive at such action as my husband may deem appropriate, but I’m not going to slice into your leg.”
“It concerns me that you lose all perspective when in a harrowing situation. Perhaps Joe is right to want you to quit working for the government.”
I gnashed my teeth, glad he couldn’t see me. “If you’re trying to get me mad enough to stick you—”
“I’m a pirate, darling, and as many of my friends, I’ve lost a limb. Jam the knife into my wooden leg and free us.”
My breath caught. I had forgotten. Turning my thigh, I used my elbow to shove at my daggers, hoping one of them would catch the wooden leg.
“Ow!”
I froze. “Jasper?”
“Kidding.”
“Ooh!” I seethed. “When this is over, I’m telling Joe everything!”
“I promise not to tell Joe you panicked in the face of danger if you promise not to tell him I may or may not have had a hand in getting you thrown into a coffin and carted around the country-side tied to his woefully misunderstood father.”
If he found out, Joe would start another round of ‘you quit it’s too dangerous, no, you quit, it’s too dangerous.’ I pushed my hands toward Jasper’s thigh and managed to grab the hilt of a dagger that had lodged itself into his wooden leg. “It might be worth it.”
“I’ll sweeten the deal. I’ll help you work while you’re with child.”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“Get a move on! The Westins used to have hundreds of children, but then my daddy’s daddy had one son, my daddy had me and I had Joe and Doris. You’ve got to have ten at least and I want some more girls.”
“You’re not ordering dinner, old man!” I wondered if he laid into Doris like this, or if I was the only lucky one.
“You’ve already wasted some good child-bearing years.”
Working the blade against the rope was slow going. “I love how you and Joe want lots of children while you won’t be the ones puking and pushing.”
“Don’t be crass, young lady. When it’s time, I’ll help you with them.”
“That’s the scariest thought I can imagine and I’m trapped in a coffin.”
“The Westin men are very good with children. It’s in our blood.”
“You can’t help it since the Westin men are children themselves.”
Jasper chuckled. “What do we do when you’ve cut through the rope? Assuming I haven’t died of old age by then.”
I kept twisting my hands to saw at our bonds. My wrists ached at the abuse. I didn’t like the dark; I needed to see what I was doing. Contemplating what awaited us hardly helped my disposition. “I’ll give you two knives. Or do you want the guns? Or the sword?”
“Just how many weapons do you have on you?”
“A lady never tells. What would you like?”
“One knife, one gun and ten grandchildren.”
I sighed, usually something Joe did, but I felt entitled. “We could be anywhere by now.” I’d lost track of time and direction.
“It doesn’t really matter. We’re on our own. Does it concern you that they haven’t killed us yet?”
I hadn’t mentioned that. It defied logic to worry more that we hadn’t been murdered. I forced myself to stop wondering what they had in store for us. “Naw. They’re probably finding a place to bury us.”
“Alive?” Jasper gasped.
The scent of licorice filled the coffin again and I felt I wasn’t the only one afraid of the dark. I tried to think of something comforting to say, though I had no idea what, when the muffled sound of horse hooves stopped, as did the shuddering of the coffin. I cut through Jasper’s ropes and handed him a knife and gun before arming myself with another gun. It was difficult in such cramped quarters but we were motivated.
“Do you think they’ll open the coffin or just bury us?” Jasper whispered.
We’d have to act fast if they planned to chain the coffin and drop us in the ocean. “Just be ready, Jasper.”
“Always.”
There was nothing I’d be able to do to make my eyes adjust to the light, whether they opened the coffin or we busted out of it. Straining to hear soft but harsh voices, I held my breath. I caught one distinct word: sheriff. A scraping, creaking sound filled my ears and suddenly, the lid swung up. “Hide the weapons,” I hissed at Jasper. Sure enough, my eyes shut of their own accord against the sudden light, but I forced them open to slits. Rough hands pulled me out, and I stumbled, falling to the dusty ground. I had tucked my knife in my skirts but left my gun in the coffin.
Jasper fell against me, his wooden leg shot out and he caught himself instantly. “Are you all right?”
“This is not one of my better days,” I whispered back.
“There they are, Sheriff.”
I glanced up, my eyes able to make out a dozen shadows. We were in some town, well inland I would guess, by the lack of breeze and salty ocean scent. Wooden buildings dotted the landscape around us. As we knelt in the middle of the street, horses and onlookers hung back, watching with great interest. There was the sheriff; six foot, broad-shouldered with brown boots and matching hat. Dusty clothes clung to his frame, though the star pinned to his chest gleamed in the sunlight, and his beard hung to his gut.
“These them?” The sheriff spit to his right.
Jasper leaned in. “That’s Lee Woodman. He’s crookeder than a baby’s elbow.”
“Not now, Jasper,” I whispered back. So we were in Rock Grove, a town fifteen miles outside of Port Bass.
Woodman rubbed his beard. “You’re under arrest for killing…who’d they kill?”
Chelsey, the man who’d killed poor Ansen, waved a gloved hand. “Does it matter?”
“Naw.” Woodman shook his head. “You’ll be hung at dawn.”
“Oh, good.” Jasper straightened up. “I was worried justice wouldn’t be done.”
Woodman turned around, and the six men who’d attacked us started to pounce.
“All right!” I called into thin air. The men stopped. I waited for the so-called lawman to look at me. When he did, I raised my hand, gazing across the terrain at the rocks.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I glanced at him and with the patience of a saint, I said, “I’m calling my men.”
Chelsey narrowed his gaze. “What men?”
“Were you followed?” Woodman growled at Chelsey.
“No. No.” Chelsey lowered his head and turned to his men. “Were we followed?”
The men shrugged and looked around. Even Jasper glanced behind them and then at me.
I lifted my arm again.
“Wait!” Woodman marched toward me. “What men?”
“I’m Ella Westin. You haven’t heard of me?” I widened my eyes, offering a look of surprise as opposed to taking offense. If I displayed arrogance, he’d match it and try to beat me at the game. Pretending he was ill-informed would keep him off balance.
He narrowed his own eyes back at me. “No.”
“Well, we’ve heard of you.”
“We?” Woodman’s beard quivered.
“My men and I, of course. I work for the government.” I tilted my head to the side as though trying to read him. “You didn’t know that? We were investigating Ansen’s death. I knew it was Chelsey and that he was linked to a bigger conspiracy.” I pointed to Jasper, still hovering protectively over me. “We allowed ourselves to be captured so my men could follow us and make a big arrest. They’ve surrounded this quaint little town by now, itching to take action. Speaking of which…” I focuse
d on the rocks again and took a deep breath.
“Wait!” Woodman glared at Chelsey. Curious onlookers closed in. Witnesses.
Chelsey backed away from the sheriff. “She’s lying! They killed him. Look at them. They’re killers! They’re not the law.”
I nodded. “The government thought it might be smarter to place a woman and a crippled old man in their midst rather than armed officers. To catch you off guard.”
Jasper huffed next to me.
Chelsey grabbed Woodman’s arm. “I caught them and brought them straight to you. I deserve a reward!”
Woodman shook him off.
“You’ll get a reward,” I said. “Right, Sheriff?” I nearly choked on the word. Woodman was a sheriff like Jasper was retired.
Woodman stroked his beard and frowned as townsfolk stared at him. Chelsey and his men kept inching back toward the horses and that coffin we’d arrived in. He spoke a little too loudly to just be speaking to me. “I am a great lawman and have always cooperated with the government.”
“She’s lying!” Chelsey shouted. “There aren’t any men! It’s just them! You need to hang them both right now!”
I stepped forward and spoke quietly. “There’s a simple way to solve this.”
Woodman reached out and grabbed my wrist. He barked at Chelsey. “Do you really think she’s just some woman with a one-legged man? They just walked up to you? Accused you of murdering Ansen? All alone with no protection? Think about it.”
Chelsey bent his knees, pulled his gun and swung it savagely in an arc around us. “Come out! I’ll fight you all!”
Jasper grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. “Will they risk shooting with us in the middle?”
“Who?” I whispered back.
“Your government men.”
“What government men?”
The blood drained from his face and he sagged against me. “You are lying?”
“Of course.” I held onto him. “We’re just a woman and a one-legged man that walked up to Chelsey and accused him of murder. Have you not been paying attention?” Was I such a good liar that even Jasper was buying in, or was he just that desperate to feel safe?
Chelsey whirled around, taking aim at bushes and big rocks. “Come out if you’re there!”
This wouldn’t work if the idiot called my bluff. I forced myself to smirk, as though I was enjoying Chelsey’s pain. Glancing at Woodman with a knowing look, I made to lift my arm.